90-year-old scooter rider hit by SUV

ST. GEORGE — A man riding his Jazzy scooter home from Smith’s Market Wednesday was hit crossing the street by an SUV, which then drove off.

90-year-old Herb Fox is attended to by Gold Cross Ambulance personnel after he was hit by an SUV Wednesday afternoon. St. George, Utah, April 12, 2017 | Photo by Sheldon Demke, St. George News

Herb Fox, who is 90 years old, was riding his electric scooter home from the grocery store when he was hit crossing Tabernacle Street at 400 West, St. George Police Officer David McDaniel said.

An ambulance was called to the scene to check on the man’s injuries.

“He had superficial wounds and cuts, and he was bleeding, so I guess they attended to him then and he chose not to be transported,” St. George Police Sgt. Craig Harding said.

Fox drove his scooter home, followed closely by Gold Cross Ambulance personnel to ensure he made it safely to his home, which is in St. George.

The SUV was driven by a man who Harding described as “having dementia.” He was on his way to pick up his son, Harding said, when he hit Fox who was crossing the street.

The driver of the SUV was apparently so confused, Harding continued, that he continued on to pick up his son, and went south, running several stop signs, and headed north on Bluff Street.

Harding said he just happened to know the driver, living in the same neighborhood as him. He found the vehicle traveling to the man’s house.

Harding pulled the SUV driver over and brought him back to the scene, where he was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and leaving the scene of an accident.

Harding explained that just because a crosswalk is not marked does not mean a driver does not have to yield to a pedestrian. The term Harding used is “unmarked crosswalk” and any corner is considered such.

Harding said he would use the incident to ask the Driver’s License Division to re-evaluate the SUV driver’s driving privileges, as he had been in several accidents recently before this one.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

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About the Author

"I wrote my first word when I was very young. I enjoyed this so much I decided to write many more words."
A native of Pacific Palisades, Calif., Ric was bitten by the news bug as a staff writer and associate editor of the Palisades High School Tideline. After school he entered the media as a radio personality, both playing music and reporting news. Ric moved to St. George in the 1980s and was the morning personality on all three major AM stations in town. An avid amateur radio operator, Ric is looking for a good band to play in, as he plays keyboards, bass and guitar. Ric lives in the center of St. George with his partner Terri, two snoring dogs and too many neurotic cats.

The officer didn’t know the victim, he knew the hit-and-run driver, who got off pretty much scott-free because he knew Harding. Yeah, yeah, he got a ticket, but I’m sure if that was your grandpa or my grandpa the treatment would have been different, but because it was someone Harding “just happened to know”.

My neighbor hit someone (and didn’t “run” or wander off and run a bunch of stop signs) due to a “hit the gas instead of the break” scenario and lost her license on the spot. This was in St. George, too. Why the special treatment this time?

excellent point Brian, considering the “several accidents” before this why wasn’t his license confiscated on the spot? If I’d been hit I’d have wanted the perp arrested for sure. Sounds like the LDS good ol’ boy network in action once again with this scenario.

Police officers have no legal right taking someone’s drivers license away, only the State can do that. If the police officer took your neighbors license on the spot it was because her license had already been revoked or supended and she was still driving.

It sounds to me like the driver got everything that was legal coming to him. It’s weird how you guys can blame the LDS church members for something no matter what it is. Here it is because the cop may have known someone. Next it will be because he didn’t know someone. It wasn’t felony hit and run, the officer was able to find the driver and issue a citation. If it had really been the “good ‘old boy network” he wouldn’t have found the driver at all. Let it be, one day we will be ripping your driver’s license out of your wrinkled old hands. I’m glad to know Mr Fox will be ok and that his scooter is still working.

If this article isn’t greatly exaggerated, it sounds like this “driver with dementia” habitually and perpetually runs stop signs and gets in traffic accidents. If this is the case it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed by him. The police can take in a driver for reckless driving and the courts can order the license revoked, which if this article isn’t greatly exaggerated, is probly what should’ve happened. It complicates things when the officer on scene has gone to church with the “driver with dementia” for so many years and knows his entire family from the ward, etc etc. Of course this is all speculation at this point. But isn’t running stop signs perpetually a bit like playing russian roulette? Only a matter of time I’d say.

It’s not hyperbole to say it’s OUTRAGEOUS that this man is allowed to continue driving until the Drivers License Division (hopefully) takes away his driving privileges. What will the authorities say to the families of anyone killed or injured by this man until that time?

I mean for real, hitting a pedestrian, leaving the scene, running 3 (or 4?!) stop signs. Last I heard a person can be arrested for reckless driving. I get that this senile, dementia-stricken driver is probly a nice old LDS guy that does church every sunday, but really, what’s the whole story here? And like Henry said, what’s gonna happen when this senile driver runs down and kills people?